Teaching

BIOS 5250 Microbial Ecology - 3 credits

I teach Microbial Ecology in alternate Spring semesters. The course is set up to explore primary literature that examines the most interesting research questions in the field of microbial ecology today. Students gain experience participating in and leading discussions about assigned primary literature articles. Next generation sequencing has revolutionized the field of microbial ecology. I also provide background information on tools to examine amplicon-based 16S rRNA high-throughput seqeuncing approaches to examine microbial communities and multivariate statistical approaches using R statistical software. Each student chooses an independent data set and research project that they focus on throughout the semester. Students create an annotated bibliography, develop an independent hypotheses, analyze next-generation sequence datasets and present the results of their work as an oral presentation. MOST RECENT SYLLABUS

BIOS 3010 Ecology - 5 credits

I teach Ecology every Fall semester. Lecture is structured to cover decreasing scales of resolution in ecology, ranging from continental, ecosystem, community and population levels. Specific topic areas covered are: climates and climate change, biogeography, biogeochemical cycling, succession, community assembly, population growth, competition, predation and adaptation. I facilitate a career panel each year to introduce students to local professionals in the field of ecology and conservation. Grades in lecture are assessed through mid-term and final exams. The laboratory portion of the course includes a large semester-long project where students are develop independent hypotheses and prepare a term paper using data collected by the class. Other topics covered in lab include community ecology of stream macroinvertebrates, a field trip to the Lake Michigan dues to study succession and using publicly available data to examine continental-scale measurements. MOST RECENT SYLLABUS

BIOS 3120-500 MICROBIOLOGY - 5 credits

I teach Microbiology in alternate Spring semesters. In lecture, I use a blend of traditional lecture style, audio and visual media and primary literature reading and discussion to cover general topics in microbiology. These topics include: phylogeny, the three domains, cell membranes and cell walls, microbial growth and metabolism, microbial molecular biology and gene expression, coevolution, horizontal gene transfer, antibiotics and antibiotic resistance, vector-borne, contagious and food-borne pathogens, current methods in molecular microbiology and the human microbiome. Grades are assessed through 3-4 lecture exams and quizzes. The laboratory portion of the course includes two full lab reports, isolating and identifying unknown bacteria. In past semesters, I have integrated the unknown project a past research project from my lab group which investigates the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria collected from birds in southwest Michigan. MOST RECENT SYLLABUS

BIOS 5790 ECOLOGY OF THE HUMAN MICROBIOME 3 credits

I typically teach this course every other Fall semester as an evening course. Students an encouraged toward discovery-driven learning by reading and discussing over 50 pieces of primary literature during the semester, and preparing 30 minute presentations on a human microbiome-associated project. The first half of the course is dedicated to understanding current molecular microbial community analysis techniques, bioinformatics approaches and biostatistics used to analyze complex microbial communities and applying ecological principles to human-associated microbiomes. The second half of the course focuses on the current state-of-knowledge about core microbial communities associated with skin, lungs, stomach, gut and vagina, as well as other topics such as the effects of antibiotics, modes of child birth, influence of probiotics and effects of diseases on the human microbiome. Graduate students interested in ecology, microbiology and/or physiology are encouraged to take this course, as well as upper-level undergraduate students with interests in attending graduate or medical school. Click on the image to the right to learn more about the latest human microbiome research. MOST RECENT SYLLABUS

BIOS 6030 Professional Development - 3 credits

I am very excited to be co-teaching this course for the first time in Fall 2015 with Dr. Sherine Obare from WMU's Chemistry Department. This course is designed to directly provide students with tools for success in graduate school and beyond, with workshop time to create and obtain feedback on professional materials. The first half of the course will broadly focus on developing tools for "Being a Good Scientist", including: time and expectations management in graduate school, getting the most out of reading the scientific literature in your field, creating effective figures, giving effective presentations, being a good reviewer, strategies for writing effective proposals, and intellectual property. The second half of the course will focus on "Career Development", including: a panel of speakers from a variety of academic, government, non-profit and industry career paths, creating resumes, building a website, interviewing and negotiation tactics, and developing a syllabus. Graduate students in BIOS and CHEM are encouraged to enroll. The course is also open to senior undergraduate students who have conducted at least one semester of research with a faculty mentor and are interested in attending graduate school. Our goal is that students will leave this course with a set of tools and documents that they will continue to use and refine for the rest of their careers. SYLLABUS

Microbial Ecology and Ecoinformatics (2 credits)

In Spring 2013, I co-taught a long-distance learning course in collaboration with Dr. Rachel Gallery at University of Arizona. The goal of this course was to train students to analyze 16s rRNA data sequenced using Titanium 454 barcoded pyrosequencing collected during the pilot soil microbial sampling from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). NEON is the United States' first ecological observatory, designed to examine the effects of long-term climate change on terrestrial, aquatic and atmospheric components of cross-continental ecosystems for the next 30 years. When fully operational, NEON will provide valuable baseline data on many aspects of ecosystem biodiversity and function to the public. Therefore, it is critical that today's students understand how to access and analyze NEON datasets. In this course, we introduced students to NEON and the data products that are/will be available. We worked with students to write protocols for 16S rRNA analysis, and all students participated in preparation of a manuscript describing the results of the analyses. We anticipate offering this course again, as data becomes available, and continuing to train students to utilize NEON resources. SYLLABUS